Eight Iranian women’s football team player are men!

The news broke in when UK’s ‘Daily Telegraph’ quoted an Iranian football official revealing that 8 players in their squad are men awaiting for sex change operations.

“(Eight players) have been playing with Iran’s female team without completing sex change operations,” ~Mojtabi Sharifi, an official close to the Iranian league.

Told to an Iranian website, from where the news was picked by Daily Telegraph. Further the report added, Iranian authorities ordered gender testing of the entire quad and other players from the leagues they were participating in. Though the names of the eight accused players are yet kept unrevealed.

Previously such cases arose in 2010, when the team’s goalkeeper was doubted

In 2010, doubts were raised about the gender of the team’s goalkeeper.

“In 2014, the country’s football governing body introduced random checks after it was revealed that four national team players were either men who had not completed sex change operations, or were suffering from sexual development disorders, according to the newspaper”, Stated the Times of India.

The Daily Telegraph also said that the gender change operations are legal in Iran though there are strict rules governing sexual morality, which forbid homosexuality and pre-marital sex. It also said that the full procedure of ‘sex change’ takes up to two years before the full gender transformation is completed.

Football is popular amongst the women in the country despite them not being allowed to enter a stadium when men’s game is on.

It is difficult to know who actually is playing just by looking at the players playing because The Iranian women’s team play in hijab headscarfs, tracksuit bottoms and long-sleeved tops. Covering the complete body and getting unnoticed physically.